technology

Robotic technology is increasingly infiltrating our everyday world, and as robots become more capable of human labor, people will likely have to develop new skills for new jobs. Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks to Erik Brynjolfsson and Andy McAfee, who argue in their new book, “The Second Machine Age,” that we are facing a radical new industrial revolution. Continue reading →

Robots are no longer futuristic. They’re driving our cars, beating us at Jeopardy, and as software, booking our travel tickets. Leading the second machine age, they’re not just automating manual labor anymore; they’re giving our cognitive function a run for its money. Continue reading →

With the push of a button – plus a lot of design work and hours of waiting – the emerging technology of 3-D printing can produce food, plastic phone accessories, even human tissue. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien explores how businesses and schools are creating everything from speakers to ballet shoes, as well as serious challenges and risks presented by ever-widening printing possibilities. Continue reading →

3-D printers will never serve up a rare juicy steak, a baked potato or the salad the “Food-a-Rac-a-Cycle” can, but before too long, they might be able to produce “Earl Grey tea – hot,” as the Replicator does for Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek movies. Continue reading →

Composer, computer scientist and futurist Tod Machover has joined the power of technology with one of the great classical art forms. In “Death and the Powers,” opera robots take the stage to sing about the search for immortality and how our humanity is transformed by tech. Jeffrey Brown reports on the preparations taking place at the MIT Media Lab for an upcoming interactive performance. Continue reading →

Billionaire business man James Dyson — the man behind Dyson vacuums, fans and heaters — said earlier this week that the United Kingdom’s government should pay students to take engineering and science courses while at university. Continue reading →

On some new car models, sensors can monitor outside surroundings and warn drivers of peril or kick in automatic braking. The Department Of Transportation is considering a mandate for all automakers to adopt this vehicle-to-vehicle technology. Gwen Ifill talks to Wall Street Journal reporter Dan Neil about how “talking cars” could improve safety on the roads but at the expense of drivers’ privacy. Continue reading →

Silicon Valley business woman Sheryl Sandberg has popularized a movement to get professional women to “lean in” and fight for their positions at the top of their fields. With no female equivalent of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates in tech, the Facebook COO saw that women were underrepresented in the industry and encouraged them to step up.

While fans gets amped up for the biggest football game of the year, companies are figuring out how to tap into that enthusiasm by adapting to changing media habits and tech use. Hari Sreenivasan learns more from Nick Wingfield of The New York Times. Continue reading →

An advertisement, directed by Ridley Scott, aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVII on Jan. 22, 1984. The visuals on the screen cut between a woman running with a sledgehammer, police in riot gear giving chase and lines … Continue reading →